Saddle (equestrian)

“ The pillion in this country has not yet become obsolete; being still, frequently, to be seen, on the backs of donkies and hack ponies, at watering places. During the early part of the present century, its employment continued to be general. It was fixed behind a man’s saddle, on the croup of a steady horse, trained to go at an easy though shuffling pace between a walk and a trot. The groom, or gentleman, equipped with a broad leathern belt buckled about his waist—by which the lady secured her position, in case of need—first mounted ”

“ During all this time the valiant rider sits in his saddle, loose-jointed and limp as a piece of buckskin, his body swaying to and fro with the motions of his struggling steed like a leaf that is fanned by the summer breeze. He holds a tight rein, keeping his horse's head as high as possible, and plunges the rowels into his flanks, first on one side and then on the other, until frequently the ground is copiously sprinkled with the blood of the fiery steed. ”

“ So long as you can walk your four full miles an hour, you will have to curb your ardor for many a long stretch, while your master chews the cud of sweet and bitter fancies.
As we saunter along, the reflections bred of thirty odd years in the saddle come crowding up. From a Shelty with a scratch-pack in Surrey a generation since, to many a cavalry charge with bugle-clash and thundering tread on Old Dominion soil now twenty years ago, the daily life with that best of friends,—save always one,—the perfect saddle horse, brings many thoughts to mind. ”

“ He regrets to say that he has also seen not a few who affect to sneer at a padded saddle or a horse with a long tail, who seem incapable of throwing their heart across a thirty inch stone wall in a burst after hounds, although upon the road they seek to impress one as constantly riding to cover. ”

“ Suppose you were riding with a lady, on her left,—which is the safe and proper, if not the fashionable side,—and her saddle should begin to turn, say toward you, as it is most apt to do. If your horse minds the indication of your leg, you can keep him so close to your companion's as to afford her suitable assistance, even to the extent of bodily lifting her clear of her saddle. If your horse is only half trained, you cannot, perhaps, bring him to the position where you want him in season to be of any service at all. ”

“ It is not a question of training; no amount of training could make the stiff-necked, flat-withered, heavy-shouldered harness type into a saddle horse. He has been bred for generations for dragging and not for carrying, and he is an entirely distinct type from the saddle horse. ”

“ It is rather a stunning thing to be mounted on the fashionable type of horse who "won't stand a curb, you know,"—and there are some such,—but, as a fact, ninety-nine American horses out of one hundred will work well in a port and bridoon bridle properly adjusted.
Always buy good things. Cheap ones are dear at any price. Your saddle should fit so that when you are in it you can thrust your riding-whip under the pommel and to the cantle along the horse's backbone; otherwise you may get sore withers. The bits should hang in the mouth just above where a horse's tush grows. ”

“ To say how a saddle should be made, would be quite impossible, as it solely depends on the horse and his rider; for instance, a thin and sweepy saddle will not suit a horse with round, heavy shoulders, and wide over his loins. Many imagine that cut-back saddles are less liable to injure the rider, than ordinary ones ”

“ But the knee grip alone will not suffice for all occasions, despite our military or riding-school friends. A madly plunging horse or a big leap will instinctively call out a grip with all the legs a man can spare. Moreover, the closer you keep your legs to the horse without clasping him, the better. Go into the hunting-field or over a steeple-chase course, and you will find that the inside of your boot-tops—and not only yours, but every other jockey's as well—have been rubbed hard and constantly against the saddle. ”

“ Then bring me a cup of the red Ahr-wine; I never shall drink but this one.
"And fetch me my harness, and saddle my horse, And lead him me round to the door: He must take such a leap to-night perforce As horse never took before.
"I have lived by the saddle for years two score, And if I must die on tree, The old saddle-tree, which has borne me of yore, Is the properest timber for me.
"I have lived my life, I have fought my fight, I have drunk my share of wine; From Trier to Cöln there was never a knight Led a merrier life than mine. ”

“ I know of no better foundation for a man to begin upon than the breaking-in to harness, which an American horse has usually received at the hands of an intelligent farmer, before he is brought to the city for sale. Starting with the horse, then, say at five years old, if you will learn how to give him his saddle education, and do it yourself, you will have, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, a better saddle beast in six months than any groom can, or any riding-master is apt to make. ”

“ If the rider remains in the saddle, he should allow the horse to have a loose rein, and never pull upon it except when necessary to guide. If he wishes to steady himself, he can lay hold upon the mane. ”

“ It is now that the formation of the Californian saddle and the large wooden stirrups protect the rider: a small bar lashed crossways to the peak of the saddle prevents the horse from rolling over, and when he rises his tormentor rises with him unhurt; finding all efforts useless, he bounds into the plain, to return in a few hours sobbing, panting, but mastered. ”

“ Then seize the cantle of the saddle with your right hand, and springing from your right foot, without touching the horse's flank with your left toe, raise yourself into the stirrup, pause a moment, and then throw the leg across the horse, moving your right hand away in season. ”

“ If, however, she uses the old-fashioned stirrup-leather, and there is no assistance of any kind at hand, neither horse-block, chair, nor stool, not even a fence or steep bank from which to mount,—a situation in which a rider might possibly be placed,—then reaching the saddle becomes a very puzzling affair, unless the lady be so active that she can spring from the ground to her saddle. ”

“ When assisting his companion from the saddle, the gentleman should stand about a foot from her with his face toward the horse, while she, after taking her foot from the stirrup and disengaging her right leg from the pommel, must turn her body so as to face him. After putting the stirrup over the shield of the saddle, as in mounting, he should then extend his hands so as to support her by the elbows, while she rests a hand upon each of his shoulders. ”

“ The pathetic part of it is that, obeying the law of opposites, the saddle has an irresistible and fatal attraction for the poor chaps. They take to it on every possible and impossible occasion. You can see them playing alleged polo at Malta, riding each other off at right angles and employing their sticks as grappling irons. ”

“ Moreover, you can train a horse much more easily, riding with only the ball of the foot in the stirrup, for you can use your legs to better advantage. My disability obliges me to ride "home" at all times, and I have always found it much more difficult to teach a horse the right leg indications than the left. I have to employ my whip not infrequently, in lieu of my leg. Your stirrup should be larger and heavier, for safety. I don't like your fine, small stirrups; and your saddle should have spring bars, which you should always keep from rusting out of good working order. ”

“ To secure a thoroughly comfortable saddle it is necessary that not only the horse, but also the rider, should be measured for it; for a saddle suitable for a slender person could hardly be used with any comfort by a stout one, and it is almost as bad to have a saddle too large as too small. ”

“ An ox-hide covers the horse from withers to crupper, to keep his sweat from the rider’s gear; a saddle similar to that used on pack animals, high-peaked fore and aft, is set astride this, and both hide and saddle are cinched to the horse by a strong girth fastened by thongs passed through a ringbolt. ”

“ There lies the proof. At West Point, and in fact at every military school, the cadets are sometimes practiced to ride with a scrap of paper held to the saddle by the knee while they leap a bar, and at the same time thrust or cut with the sabre at a convenient dummy foe. I have seen a silver dollar so held between the knee and saddle. But the bar is not a succession of high stone walls, nor is the cadet riding a burst of several miles. And with a longer stirrup it is more natural to keep the foot parallel with the horse's side. To-day, the best riders do not so hold their feet. ”

“ If we use the word advisedly, only the horse registered in the Stud Book is a thoroughbred. These have no early training whatever, except to allow themselves to be mounted, and to run their best. If they stand the initial test of speed, they are reserved for the turf, and there wholly spoiled for the saddle or for any other purpose of pleasure. If they do not, they are turned adrift, half spoiled in mouth and manners by tricky stable-boys, and may or may not fall into good hands. ”

“ Horses are not naturally vicious, and very few of them who have had any sort of fair-play in training, really require a curb, or will go as well or pleasantly upon it as if ridden in a snaffle-bridle.
Your saddle is another most important point. Never commence, be your age ever so tender, by riding upon a pad. Accustom yourself from the beginning to the use of a properly constructed saddle, made as straight as a board, seat perfectly level, and scarcely any appearance of a pommel upon the off-side. A leaping-head, or what is commonly termed a third crutch, is, in my opinion, indispensable. ”

“ Now the stranger tossed on the saddle and cinched it with amazing speed, sprang onto his mount, and urged it across to the other side of the corral. Up to that moment no one in the little crowd of watchers had suspected the intention of the rider. ”

“ It does not look well according to our ideas, for they slouch in the saddle and flap their elbows, sitting with their legs sticking out straight as if the horse had tar or something on its ribs which the rider wanted to keep clear of. They seem to hold their reins in any sort of way, in each hand and up to their chins being the favourite method, which looks awkward, to say the least of it. ”

“ The manège need not mean all the little refinements of training which, however delightful to the initiated, are unnecessary to comfort or safety. But no horse can be called a good saddle beast whose forehand and croup will not yield at once to the lightest pressure of rein or leg. Most horses will swing their forehands with some readiness, if not in a well-balanced manner. ”

“ If the animal does not buck or shy, and goes fairly well, albeit a little gay, it is a prize not to be disdained. Many horses, even with stall courage, will go quietly if the saddle be warmed by half an hour's contact with their backs, but will plunge or buck if the rider mounts a saddle freshly girthed. If a fresh horse will stand the ordeal of a cold panel, it will not be apt to misbehave under other trials. ”

“ Duke Morgan tested the cinches of the saddle on the Lady once more, unloosed the tugs once more from the horse’s shoulder, examined each buckle of the collar and every inch of the two 418 strips of leather, the reinforced fastenings on the whiffletree, rolled all up again, strapped it, and stood by the head till de Spain swung up into the saddle. ”

“ The objection to too long a stirrup-leather is that, when the foot is pressed upon it, the leg at the same time is straightened, and extends down so far as to cause the rider to sit too much to the left of the saddle. As the pressure and weight are thus thrown wholly upon the left side, the saddle is very likely to turn, and if this faulty position be persisted in, it will be certain to injure the horse's back and may give rise to fistulous withers. ”

“ It might be that a vaquero was vainly coaxing a colt that backed and backed steadily as he attempted to approach it with saddle or bridle; was taking a last reef in the horse-hair sincha or girth; coiling his lasso, or fastening it to the pommel of the saddle; bending to accept a light for his cigarette from the brand that his dark-eyed wife had brought to the door. There were men in every condition of endeavouring to mount restive horses; and horses in every stage of enjoying their morning buck ”

“ You know every man here has his own saddle, and no one ever uses it except the man that owns it. Your saddle is here, and you ought always to hang it on its peg, and hang bridle, blanket and rope over it, so that they won't get dirty or be gnawed by anything, and so you'll always know where they are. You see, if you lose your things you'll have to go without any. No one'll lend you theirs. Now, the first thing you've got to learn is how to saddle your horse. I'll saddle old Baldy first, and you watch me close and try to see what I do. ”

“ A beginner should only ride a gentle horse. In case we do take a tumble, it is well to take our first lesson on soft ground or in a tanbark ring.
There are three types of saddles generally used: The English saddle is simply a leather seat with stirrups, and while it is the most refined type and the one used for fox hunting and all expert riding in England, it is not the best kind to learn on. The army saddle and the Mexican or cowboy saddle with a pommel or box-stirrups are far safer and less expensive. ”

“ At the risk of repetition, I again impress on you the necessity of keeping the toe of the left foot pointed to the front, the foot itself back, and with the heel depressed. Your descent into the saddle should be such that any one you may be riding straight at, shall see a part of your right shoulder and hip as they rise and fall, his line of vision being directed along the off-side of the horse's neck. When these two portions of your body are so visible then the weight is in its proper place, and there is no fear of the saddle being dragged over the horse's near shoulder. ”